


That's No Excuse For The State I'm In

by ever_neutral



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-16
Updated: 2011-04-16
Packaged: 2017-10-18 04:10:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ever_neutral/pseuds/ever_neutral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's kind of funny, a century later, to see him losing again. It's kind of funny -- she always thought he'd be easy to love.</p><p>[S2 setting]</p>
            </blockquote>





	That's No Excuse For The State I'm In

Katherine only ever wants what she can't afford to have.

_"The truth is, I've never loved you."_

The truth is --

The truth is --

Katherine Pierce is stitched out of lies: an intricate tapestry woven from false threads. One day she'll unravel -- _just find the right thread, and tug_ \-- but today is not that day. Tomorrow won't be, either. To Katherine, The End is just another boy who wants to stake his claim.

But Katherine's a master at playing hard-to-get. He will not get her until she lets him.

Damon Salvatore is a boy who wants too much, too quickly. He has too much honesty, and not enough shame. It irritates, a buzzing below her skin. She wants to scratch it all off, see what remains ( _if anything_ ). She scratches him instead.

He'd be easy to love. She could probably love him, if she knew how to do things easily.

But instead, _easily_ is how he loses, _hard_ is how he's doomed to take it.

It's kind of funny, a century later, to see him losing again. It's kind of funny -- _she always thought he'd be easy to love_. It's not the first time she's been wrong, but it's probably the most surprising. She'd take pity on him, but she doesn't keep _pity_ in her arsenal.

( _Katherine only ever wants what she can't afford to have._ )

"We want the same thing," she tells him, "and you know, _I always get what I want_." They both know this is a lie, but Damon allows the deception. This is one of the many reasons she chose his brother instead.

Today, Damon's a better liar than he once was; she is perhaps a worse one.

( _They have both remained the same._ )

He's still asking questions that have answers she knows he doesn't want: _It's always been Stefan._ He still takes reality hard, just like he always has.

"Would you rather I lie?" she asks, because she is honest enough to be realistic.

He cannot respond. If she were more honest still, she would accept the fact that _not_ being honest before meant that he was protected.

But Katherine is stitched out of lies, and honesty is a loose end she can no longer afford to keep holding on to. She'd cut him loose, once and for all, but in all honesty, she's forgotten how to let go.


End file.
